Romantic Territory
by Snooze Button
Summary: The Cullens, living in peace after the Volturi incident, usually welcome strange nomads. But when this particular nomad falls for Edward and gets in between Bella's and Edward's strong-as-ever relationship, measures must be taken. EdwardBella EdwardOC
1. The Newcomer

A scent. One, so utterly captivating it snuffed out all other senses, dominated me. I shot like a cannon ball, over thick trees and through the downpour to this delicacy, my raven-black hair flying behind me in a graceful manner, my powdery white skin shining subtly in the haze, my teeth flashing. I imagined that a look of pure, terrifying bloodlust masked my face's beautiful features.

Yes, I'm a vampire. I'm not exactly proud of it, but in my forty years of being such, I've come to terms with myself. Whatever was left of my conscience was quiet and insignificant by now. It would have to be--forty years of killing what I once was, and others that were like my former self, had taken its toll.

My sharp senses picked it up, some two miles ahaed: engines. Cars, motorcycles, the sounds of civilization. Of course the sound would be there. It was the sound that only humans could make, just as this overpowering smell could only belong to human blood. It worried me a bit; I had avoided contact with the Volturi my entire supernatural life, and had no wish to be involved in a quarrel with them now by being discovered. As the trees began to thin, and the sound of voices, tires on pavement and motors grew louder, I slowed to a slower, more _human_ pace. Out of my tattered pocket, I took out a pair of old, shabby sunglasses and put them over my startlingly crimson eyes.

Finally, my feet, which I had hastily covered with shabby boots, met the sidewalk. I was in the middle of a little suburb, pleasant looking if not for the rain. In the downpour, my skin wouldn't betray me by shining with crystal glitters. To any human, I would not look like a vampire--just a distractingly beautiful woman.

The air was now saturated with the pheremone of blood that humans gave off. It was tantalizing, and I did all I could not to lunge at a group of three nearby teenage boys. Easy targets, by the looks of them.

They weren't upright gentlemen, but the kind that, I quelled myself, would never have a future, even if I left them to their own devices. They wore expensive, brand-name clothes that gave off a sign that they were very well cared-for. For humans, they were rather handsome as well, average-looking, but they radiated confidence, which was of course quite attractive.

From between their fingers came a new, acrid scent, that made my nose wrinkle. Marijuana. Weed. They were smoking joints. While that tended to make their blood a lot less apatizing, it also made them much more vulnerable to my beauty.

Before I approached them, ready to strut rather suggestively, I checked my reflection in a bakery window, filled with sugary cakes and pastries that may have made my mouth water in my human life. My jeans and t-shirt were a bit frayed, but at least I'd kept them blood-free on my journeys. My extra-tinted sunglasses showed no color at all of my eyes, nor the manic, ferocious thirst in them, and my hair stayed tangle-free, as usual. My clothes were less than attractive, but they showed my amplified curves as well as anything, and I knew that this venture would be easy.

I strutted like a peacock, feeling rediculous but trying to look casual. The boys noticed me and made no secret of my beauty.

"Hey, Sean," said one, a blond boy with a long fringe and high cheekbones, nudging a short-haired brunette. Their eyes were unfocused and cloudy, I could tell even at this twenty-yard distance. "That's one hell of a body, eh? Check out that chick!" he laughed with a kind of hysteria that I knew may have had to do with the influence of the drug he was on.

I tried not to show how disgusted I was. Stupid pigs.

Sean saw me and laughed equally rauciously, shaking the shoulder of the other blond boy in the group, whose eyes were already fixed on me. "Hey, Girly, you lost? Need a ride somewhere?"

I heard the blonds whisper to eachother, "Nice rack if I ever saw one," and other raunchy slurs.

"Yeah," I said in a seductive pur, "I could use a ride home. Where's your car?"

The boys looked astounded that their "charms" were working so well, and pulled me in the direction of an old Volkswagon. The smell of marijuana smoke and human blood mingled, and though it wasn't near as appealing as untainted blood, it wasn't altogether repulsive.

I sat in the back seat with Sean and the high-cheekboned blond, who were a bit too close for most strangers' comfort. The boy at the steering wheel asked, raunchy suggestuves showing through his nonchalance, "Do you mind if I make a stop somewhere?"

"No," I said, seduction gone. I slowly took off my sunglasses, showing my manic, dark red eyes. "No, that's fine."

They never even had a chance to start the car, before they were mercilessly killed.

I left the scene, switching my bloody clothes for their least gorey, and ran at the speed of a bolt of lightning into the woods before anyone knew what had happened.

I slowed to a walk, finally, and smelled the air contentedly. My senses picked up something very interesting, a peculiar scent that I hadn't smelled in a long time. It wasn't tantalizing like human blood, but was sweet, and compelling enough to pique my interest.

I headed in the direction of this smell , curiosity getting the better of me. It seemed as if I wasn't the only vampire in town.

* * *

Alice closed the door to her room softly and gracefully flitted down the stairs where Edward, Bella, Reneesme, Carlisle, Esme and Jasper were congregated, greeting Rosalie and Emmet who had just now come back from the hunt, a meeting which Alice neglected to join as she was quite preoccupied in her room with another vision of hers.

"A nomad," she said simply, speaking mostly to Carlisle. "A girl nomad vampire is coming. You'd better get ready to welcome her." she said this mostly to Carlisle, who seemed politely interested.

"Just one?" he asked, mildly surprised. "No coven?" Alice shook her head and Esme's face became warmer, more motherly.

"Aw, poor girl," she cooed motherly. "She's probably been alone for a long time--we should make her at home."

Bella smiled down at Reneesme, now looking around the age of seven, "We'd better get Reneesme's story ready, too. I don't really want to be involved in any more fights at the moment." It had been only a few weeks since the situation with the Volturi and their battle of minds.

Edward smiled at his daughter, too, but his stance became noticable protective.

The Cullen family stood together, awaiting their strange visitor.

* * *

**A/N: Hi, guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm not really a huge Twilight fan, and I'm sorry to you die-hard fans, but it's not my favorite series. But whatever--I'm not gonna shove my beliefs down your throats! That is, if no one busts my chops about it. **

**I mean, it's just not my thing. But, since I've read it all and there's just so many fans (some of which are very good friends of mine) I just thought that I'd add to your supply of Twilight fanfiction. Even if Twilight isn't up to my critical standards (yeah, I'm pretty stuck-up. don't get all mad at me, please), I hope you guys really enjoy this fanfic.**

**See, my biggest problem with it was lack of characterization. Which is why this series will get up close and personal with our characters--their gifts and their flaws. Because I don't care what species you are or if you're a century old, there's no such thing as a perfect person. In my later chapters, be warned, you may see Edward succumb to his flaws, the ones that make a person who they are.**

**Ah, well, I'm rambling. See you!**


	2. Confrontation

**A/N: Chapter 2, up! Yay! So, anyway, thank you so much for the reviews. I love reviews! They're what keep me going.**

**Umm, I wanna dedicate this story to my Twilight-loving friends, (Which I will just give the initials of as I haven't cleared putting their name on the internet up) NW, LL, BB (well, she's half-a-fan), HJ, and MP.**

**So, er, read on!**

* * *

I was getting close. By the, well,_ smell_ of things, there was more than one-- seven or eight, maybe

I was swift, zooming past ferns and bouncing off of damp moss, rain washed air in my face. There was a lot of green in this place. I may have stopped to admire its beauty, but then again, I wasn't much of an environmentalist. I'd seen plenty of nature in my life, having journeyed through forests and marshes and mountains, and I didn't really have the patience at the moment to admire anything except this curious scent. I knew the smell of vampires. These were _different_ somehow. . . .

Finally, I heard it--voices some three hundred yards away. My eyes focused on a house through the haze--a huge one, white and old-fashioned. Many expensive cars were parked in the driveway. The voices were louder, and I thought I could distinguish snatches of conversation.

". . . don't think we'll have to explain anything about Reneesme; she's looking a bit too old to be considered one of _them. . . ._" said a young woman's voice, one that was heavy with seduction and the faint air of arrogance.

"I hope she hasn't killed anyone in town already," came a worried voice, another young woman's. "What about Charlie?" There was badly-disguised anxiety in her voice. A gentle sort of crooning followed, a deeper, mellifluous voice that I supposed must belong to a man, but it was so quiet that even I couldn't distinguish the words.

"C'mon, smile!" said another girl's voice, high like the chiming of a bell, and her voice was more excited. "That means you, Bella. There's no point worrying--she's outside now."

If my heart still worked, it would be beating frantically, like a humming bird's wings. My pace slowed, and I walked in a catlike crouch, ferocity back. My defensive position was only half-hearted. I knew vampires, from my own experiences, to usually be rather polite to other vampires. But some were not so polite. Some were menacing and wanted nothing to do with other vampires. I knew that these strangers were not like that.

I'd taken my boots off after my feeding; my bare feet slid against the wood paneling of their front porch. I could have put them back on, but as they were all waiting for me inside. . . .

But I wasn't sure what to do. Knock? Knock and say "Hi, I noticed that you're all vampires! May I come in?" But I was saved from having to make a decision when the door opened, and a shorter, skinny girl stood in the doorway, her hair inky black and cut short in a spiky pixie cut, her beautiful vampiric face smug. The house was very white, all neutral colors, and very spacious, the entire back wall made of glass, looking out into the forest, which was darkening in the fading light of an ending day. Behind her, five other vampires stood, reading or watching television, looking more like a beautiful family than like six ferocious beasts.

Of course, they were all beautiful--all adolescence except for a startlingly handsome man with blond hair and an equally stunning woman with soft brown hair, which, though they had no aging or weakening signs, gave off an air of adulthood. They stood very close together, and I could tell that they were closer than friends.

The other three were, as usual, gorgeous, though their looks weren't as mesmerizing as they might've been when I was human. There was a tall, blond girl with an arrogant, casual countenance, talking with another blond person, a muscely boy whose eyes were fixed on me with what I realised to be a probing expression. An enormous boy with curly dark hair, whose muscular frame making the blond boy look practically wispy, sat on the sofa, his playful eyes fixed on the screen, a smile playing on his lips, the epitome of nonchalance.

What surprised me about these vampires, what positively shocked me, was their golden eyes. _Gold_. Not red. Gold. Were these even vampires? What was going on here? For some reason, their civility and calm, golden eyes frightened me. I cringed slightly, but I disguised it well. And I was intrigued by something else--I'd never seen so many vampires gathered together.

"Hello," the tiny, black-haired girl in the doorway said. She had a tinkling, soprano voice that sounded like tuneless singing. "Are you a friend of Carlisle's?" Her voice was doubtful. "Come in."

Hesitantly, I stepped in, my movements, though fast for a human, were slow and wary for a vampire. Carlisle? I probably looked like an idiot, staring at the girl as if she spoke a different language. When a voice sounded from the corner, I realised that there were more than six vampires here.

"Give her some space, Alice."

I whipped around, startled, and saw three forms by a magnificent grand piano, a teenage boy and teenage girl standing over it while a small, young girl sat at the bench. The little girl was watching me curiously, her engaging eyes seeming far to inteligent to belong to such a small, young girl, looking just barely six years old. I couldn't stop looking at her.

Her eyes were not red, nor were they amber-colored. They were a warm, chocolate brown. Her skin was pale, yet not as pale as the vampires'. She had bronze hair that hung in curls down her back. I sniffed the air, intrigued. She was . . . a human . . . in this vampire coven. I realised that I'd been holding my nose ever since I heard the voices. Her scent was different, though. Delicious, yet with a vampiric tint.

I had a good idea of what she would be used for. My mouth would have watered had I still been human. She looked . . . well, for lack of a better word, tasty. But her scent was both human and vampire. . . .

Standing over her was the boy, and I was sure, by his pure vampiric scent, chalky skin and amber eyes, that he must be a vampire. He was thin yet muscular, with beautiful (of course) features, long eyelashes and bronze hair the same color as the . . . thing's. His eyes were fixed on mine, and I recognized a searching expression.

The girl, also a vampire, I knew, sat on the human-girl's other side on the piano bench. She had brown hair and looked, somehow, like the human girl. A though made itself known in the back of my mind, but it was impossible, and I supressed it.

My attention was back on the human girl, and My hunger, though I had just fed, was back. I was startled when, suddenly, the bronze-haired boy growled, a ripping, snarling sound from his chest that sounded truly inhuman. I jumped.

"Edward!" hissed the brown-haired girl by the human. She looked worried and stretched an arm out and touched his shoulder. I realised that they, too, were more than friends. The boy, Edward, looked to her beseachingly, and her eyes widened in comprehension. She clutched the human close to her. She looked scared. Edward stood protectively in front of them, all friendliness gone, glaring at me.

Any words that may have come to me caught in my throat.

"Bella? Edward?" The black-haired girl looked confused, but mostly disapproving. "What? She's hungry? What did you expect? Be nice." Her tone, in contrast to them, was teasing. But I could see, under the nonchalance, she too was tensed, as if ready to restrain me from attacking the human.

My appatite was gone. I knew that they would protect the now scared-looking girl with their lives, and I was confused. How did he know what I was thinking? Had my hunger shown on my face? And why did it provoke such a strong reaction in them? Did they want her to themselves?

Another growl rent the air from the boy, this one not quite as loud, but he looked frighteningly angry at me.

"I-I won't hurt her!" I squeaked, bewildered. I looked at the others, noticably tenser, all except for the now grave-looking adults. The man had a kind of reverberating calm about him.

"It's okay, Edward," he said. His eyes met mine. There was warning in them.

I nodded at him frantically and repeated, "I won't touch the human." The others seem to relax. The giant boy continued watching TV, but his smile was gone.

"Reneesme's not _human_," said the tiny black-haired girl. She seemed disappointed at how this little meeting was going. "She's half vampire."

I had no idea what she meant. I tried to apologize through my eyes at the bronze-haired boy, who finally relaxed, though I could tell that he didn't trust me. I was feeling smaller, a bit upset. Something about that boy, how he had stood so protectively in front of that other vampire girl that I knew was his significant other, touched me deeply. It was pure, untainted, protective love. Something I hadn't had in some forty years.


	3. The Cullens

_The Cullens_

Tinkling, flowing music played in my ears, a backdrop to a symphony of thoughts. I sat around an old-fashion table with the strangers, and the keys of a piano played a heartwarming tune, which may have brough tears to my eyes had I had any to shed. I was digesting the information I'd just been told. About vampire-humans, about the Volturi, about a new life style that I'd never known to be possible.

The vampire-human. I chewed it over in my head, eyeing the adolescent brown-haired vampire that I knew to be known as Bella. Bella Cullen. She sat close to the protective boy--Edward Cullen. The adults, at either end of the table, were named Carlisle (the "father" figure) and Esme (obviously the "mother" figure), and the other adolescents were members of their coven, or their sons and daughters; the arrogant blond girl, named Rosalie; the playful, juggernaut of a teenager with curly dark hair, Emmet; the tiny, spiky-black-haired friendly girl named Alice; and Jasper, the honey blond boy with gruesome scars all over his vampiric body, and whose eyes seemed to follow me everywhere I went.

The music played, unwavering, and I chanced a glance at the small girl at the piano. So young. . . . But she was definitely a prodigy. A half-vampire, half-human. Reneesme Cullen. The daughter of Bella and Edward Cullen.

Her case boggled me. A vampire-human? How could that be possible? Yes, it was definitely a unique situation: it turned out that Bella Cullen was a new vampire, a human almost a year ago. Reneesme, this gentle vampire-human spawn, had been the result of a romance between a _vampire_ and a _human_. I marveled at this. Vampire and human! Together, with no violence! I knew, too well, that I could never have done it. Reneesme had been concieved when Bella was human--and poor Bella was turned into a vampire in the process of her birth. More unconditional love. How much love could this family generate?

And then there was their story about the Volturi. I'd always known the Volturi to keep order in the vampire world. And to them I was grateful. How could I not be? They'd always been the only thing I'd known to protect our secrets from the humans. I was more than fond of the idea of joining them someday.

But the stories they told! About their gifts of torture, how easily they could take another life, without a second thought, their willingness to kill a whole army of vampires just to punish them for the child that was Reneesme--and then kill her. I simply couldn't believe it. And I wouldn't.I would reserve my judgement--I wouldn't let their stories hinder my respect for the order-keepers of the only world I'd ever known for forty years.

And then there was that last piece of information, unbelievable, extrordinary. It was the Cullens' lifestyle of peace. For they_ did not drink human blood_. They lived on animal blood! More than lived--the thrived! They were happy. They had the ability to build relationships with others, extending themselves to a world that they were no longer a part of--the human world.

Of course, in my forty years of living, the idea had crossed my mind a few times. How could it not? I had, still, had remorse for my sins--I had, after all, been one of those week, helpless humans before. Every life I took for my own selfish gain was a blow to a community, a wound to a family, and the premature ending of a life, of which I had no right to take. But still, every time the idea of drinking animal blood and sparing the poor humans had crossed my mind, it was quickly replaced by what I knew instinctively.

When on the hunt, I knew it, I could feel it: human blood was my path, my way of life, the only thing that made sense. It was vampire sustainence, and that was the simple truth. Animal blood was not--I knew this, every time I smelled the heavenly scent of my true sustainence.

But these vampires had done it, that which I had given up as impossible. . . . Was it possible for me?

there was no silence around the table, but the chatter of voices. Love. All of these vampires had their soulmates next to them--Edward with Bella, Carlisle with Esme, Jasper with Alice, Emmet with Rosalie. They spoke with contented, happy tones, love simply dripping off of their voices. I felt somehow hollow, empty, remembering the life I had given up along with my humanity.

I cleared my throat quietly, feeling kind of rude as I did so. Only Esme and Carlisle turned to me the others still speaking with their love-saturated croons.

"Do you have something to say, Blaire?" asked Esme, calling me by my name, which I'd told her in the preceding conversation. Carlisle was watching me with piercing eyes.

"I . . ." I said, my voice sounding distant, to me. "I want to try . . . to be like you. To drink animal blood."

I'd caught the attention of the couples. Every eye turned on me. Even the tinkling music stopped, and I knew Reneesme was watching me.

"Are you sure?" The voice was skeptical. It came from Jasper, who was watching me suspiciously. "You think you're able to?" He was very serious.

"She's welcome to try," said Carlisle, and I felt a rush of gratitude--he was willing to give me a chance! "What do we have to lose?"

And they began planning, planning my first hunt, and I was shunted out of the conversation, as I really wasn't sure what to say. Hesitantly, I went and sat next to Reneesme at the piano bench, where she had begun to play her tranquil melody again. She stopped when I sat beside her, and looked up expectantly with her chocolate brown eyes. I held my breath. It was like the little incident between us and her parents hadn't even happened. But I felt the need to apologise.

"I'm sorry, Reneesme," I said quietly. "Y'know, for ticking off your dad. . . ."

"It's okay," she said, in her melodic, childlike voice. "You didn't do anything wrong." I smiled at her.

We sat in silence, until she brought up the question.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" she asked quite suddnely.

"Ah, no." I said, a little confused. But then I realized how all of the people in her life seemed so madly in love with eachother, it's all she's ever known. I sighed. "No, not since I became a vampire when I was twenty," I said, more quietly still but I was sure she could hear me. "About forty years ago."

"What happened?" she asked, such innocence in her voice. I'd forgotten how she'd been used to the idea that vampires and humans could easily forge relationships. I smiled more sadly at her.

"I hurt someone I love." She seemed surprised, and moreover, apologetic. But I waved away her apologies. "It was a long time ago. There's nothing that can be done now, can there?"

Reneesme dissolved into deep thought. So did I.

* * *

**A/N: Hey! I REALLY wanna thank all of my readers, ESPECIALLY the ones that reviewed! (oh yeah, review, please!) Really, thank you so much. I couldn't keep doing this without the support of my reviewers. Love you guys! Oh, and sorry it took me so long to updat--you know, research papers. . . .**


	4. The Hunt

**_A/N:_ Ok, I really HAVE to apologise for this wait--I'm really, REALLY sorry. I'd like to consider that wait my . . . Christmas hiatus, if you will. Sure enough, I'll try to update as fasr as I can from now on. I don't think this story will have any more than . . . . oh, fifteen chapters, but then again, I have no idea at the moment. It could very well end up with thirty, but for now, I'm trying not to subject myself to the horrors of a ridiculously long story. But who knows? This story's getting _way_ more attention than I ever thought it would, for which I'm ecstatic. I love the reviews! Keep 'em coming! And again, I'm really sorry, and just hope you enjoy.**

* * *

_The Hunt_

We were ready. All three of us, Bella, Edward and I. To go and hunt--for _animals._

To be honest, this whole thing seemed repulsive. I felt slightly nauseous at the thought, like a human eating flies. It just seemed so unright, not to mention utterly unapatizing.

It had been decided hours ago that I would try my first hunt with Edward and Bella now, as soon as possible, so as to wash the tantalizing taste of blood from my mouth or something. I wasn't really sure I was ready. I thought that maybe we could just set a date, like a smoker would in an attempt to throw away their last cigarette.

But Carlisle seemed to think otherwise, and the other Cullens agreed with him, that I should try to get my bearings with this new lifestyle before any more innocent life was lost. Of course, I was abashed, but nonetheless I was determined. I didn't feel this way now.

Edward, Bella, and I ran, into the forest behind the house, Edward and Bella running quite close together, myself off to the side. We didn't speak. The two had been very distant with me since the incident with thier daughter. This, too, abashed me. The Cullens seemed like warm people, but they were by no means warm to me.

We were running, gracefully, into the mountains, where no human would stumble upon us. I was instructed to hold my breath until then, though I didn't. It wasn't necessary--I'd just fed recently, and though my thirst for blood would never be quenched, it was quite bearable. I'd been a vampire for forty years, how could it not be bearable?

Suddenly I was aware of a closer presence. Bella was running alongside me now, Edward still stubbornly looking away from me. Bella, looking rather gentle, said to me beseechingly, "I'm sorry about Edward. He's stubborn, and he's protective. . . . . But he's very kind once you get to know him."

"Undoubtably," I said, trying to keep a quaver out of my voice. So she wasn't mad at me?

I'd noticed the love between the two. . . something of envy for me. I looked at the young man, Edward, from over Bella's shoulder, running in pace with us, determinedly looking away. It was . . . . intriguing. I don't know why, but he somehow captivated my interest. Just as the revelation reached me, I noticed him tense.

"So. . . ." I said, turning back to the kindly vampire, trying to ignore the boy as vehemently as he was ignoring me. "You're not . . . y'know, mad at me?" I couldn't eep the shame from my quiet voice.

She shook her head, and cast an exasperated glance at the beautiful boy. "Neither is he. He . . . I don't know, he acts strange sometimes." She shook her head again, wearily, but I could see an unwavering tenderness for him in her eyes, that she would love the enigma no matter what what he did. Who could blame her, seeing his own commitment and passion first-hand? Edward grew noticably tenser.

He suddenly stopped in the middle of the clearing. I had to double back to him. Bella and he were standing together again, not too close for comfort, but closer than that--and it looked very comfortable.

The way he looked at her! How could I have been a little scared of him before? He looked so gentle and tender and passionate, even I was softened slightly.

"There's some dear nearby," he said, in a hushed voice, looking down only at Bella, who stared back lovingly. I felt a bit intrusive here, and lonely, among these two, two halves of a whole. He inclined his head towards me, though his eyes were still locked on Bella's, and I understood that I should go and . . . hunt.

Bella broke away from Edward, and smiled at me. "I'm kind'a hungry, too," she said, walking swiftly to the east. I sniffed the air, and smelled some mile away, the obvious scent of deer, white-tailed, that I'd smelled so many times in my travels. I shuddered. It was not unpleasant, I suppose, but it was not at all appatizing--like, to a human, the pungeant smell of leather. "I think I'll tag along with Blaire."

I wasn't sure what to say, but nodded, and followed her, to the dear. To my mild surprise, Edward followed, probably because he just liked to be around Bella. They seemed to be so in tune together, I could imagine why.

I could see, through my oh-so acute crimson eyes, an entire family of dear, grazing peacefully, completely unaware of our presence, down the hill I stood at. I saw, out of the corner of my eye, Bella's soft eyes turn suddenly fierce, and Edward's teeth bare.

How could these animals look so tantalizing to them? I checked back, just to make sure we were looking at the same things. Ugh. I considered wrinkling my nose like a child and stubbornly staying at the top of the hill, but the idea hadn't really taken hold when Bella and Edward sprang rapidly down, at the speed of a bullet, towards the poor, unsuspecting animals. I followed numbly.

They took down two deer, a buck and a doe, and the rest scattered. I lunged for another doe, deciding to leave the fawns be, and began, to my own disgust, to tear her throat open and drink her blood. It was like mud to me, gross, unnatural, though I supposed it was, at the very least, thirst-quenching.

I had sucked the poor, writhing animal dry, and I wasn't at all satisfied. Another movement caught my eye--another buck! I sprang lithelysfter the slow animal, sinking my teeth into his spine, grappling with it. But someone else, too was feasting on my meal.

My mind, so unsatisfied by the meager blood, registered Bella there. But she didn't recognize me--and suddenly she was upon me, grappling with _me_, digging her nails across my marble face. Her breath was shrill and menacing, hissing and spitting, snarling at me. I tried to retreat, but she had such a hold on me, her mind tainted with the desire for animal blood that I in no way shared with her. The buck lay cringing a few feet away, all but forgotten.

Suddenly, someone else was there, too--Edward. He seized his partner and pulled her, dexterously as if she weighed nothing, off of me, growls ripping through the morning light. Bella's hisses began to subside, and I just stood there, frozen, as she calmed in her lover's arms.

I just watched, out of breath. Edward's and my eyes met, and I knew of no way to show my gratitude than continue to stand there, staring.

* * *

"I'm sorry, Blaire," Bella said meakly as we swiftly leaped back to the house. She seemed embarrassed.

"It's okay, Bella" I said, equally embarrassed. I had other reasons for being embarrassed though.

Edward had saved me, even though I'd thought he'd detested me. I supposed I owed him. I watched his back as he sped ahead of us, watched the rare (in these parts, anyway) sunlight glimmer smoothly off of his skin through the canopy mof leaves.

What was this feeling I had? Gratitude? I didn't know, but something about Edward had . . . changed. To me, at least.

* * *

Reneesme, far too energetic to sleep, even at this late hour, spun blithely around the cottage, dancing. She giggled, and smiled at Edward, as he watched her with Bella snuggled on his lap.

"Thanks for saving Blaire from me," Bella said, a touch of humor in her voice. "Who knows what I would have done if you hadn't intervened?"

Edward didn't reply, lost in thought, watching his daughter. Those feelings he'd deciphered through Blaire's mind. . . . . Was she, perhaps growing too close for comfort? Was she a threat, to his happy family?

"What's wrong?" Bella asked, noticing his uncomfortable silence. He shook his head at her, and whispered "Nothing." Nothing was going to break the strong bonds forged here. Right?


	5. The Past

**A/N: Okay, guys, I know you're probably ticked that I haven't updated in so long..... So, sorry, but I've had a lot going on in school for me, so my hiatus was necessary. Anyway, I hope to be updating regularly for once.... and who knows, maybe when I'm done with this story, I'll work on a Rent fanfiction! Kidding, I actually have no immediate plans for one. But I'm SO piqued by the idea of a RogerMimi fanfic..... who knows, at this stage? Anyway, thanks for reading! R&R, please! Oh, yeah, and I just realised I've been spelling "Renesmee" wrong the whole time! Haha!**

_The Past_

I'd taken to spending most of my time with Renesmee nowadays. After all, who else was I going to talk to? As welcome as the others were being to me, I still couldn't really be with them without some level of awkwardness. Besides, Renesmee was easily the most insightful, and interesting one of them.

It was understood that I could live with the Cullens. That much I understood when they gave me my own room--the one that once belonged to Edward before he moved with his wife into a small cottage further into the woods. But was I a part of their family? I wasn't sure.

Renesmee was playng the piano again--Fur Elise this time, which she played with ease. Her father, quite the pianist himself, had been teaching her, and I could tell she was a quick learner. But she still had the ability to speak with me as she played, easy, casual.

"Can I come with you on your next hunt?" she inquired. I looked to see that she did have a somewhat hungry air about the shadows under her eyes. It had only been two days since my first animal hunt, and I was in no hurry.

"I think you should probably eat sooner than that, Renesmee," I said, calmed by her music.

"Did it go badly last time?" she asked bluntly. I looked at her, wondering whether or not to go with one of those white lies you tell young children, and decided against it, simply shrugging. She seemed to sense some unease with this topic and moved on to another.

"Do you have a power?"

"Hmm?" I grunted, thinking. "Yeah. I can. . . ."

I hesitated. Renesmee stopped playing and looked at me expectantly. I sighed.

"I can put thoughts in peoples minds.... make them think what I want them to think.... if I try really hard," I admitted, feeling slightly ashamed. It was such a foreboding gift, though extremely difficult to master. "What about you?" I asked, wanting to get out of the spotlight.

Renesmee grinned and placed her hands on my neck so suddenly that I froze. And suddenly. . . . I saw something else. I was seeing the sky, blue like it never was here on the Olympic Peninsula, sun shining. And as soon as it came, it was gone.

Renesmee's grin stayed in place, and she watched me. I smiled.

"Wow," I said weakly, wordless. What else could I really say?

"Mommy can protect her mind," Renesmee said, beginning to play the piano again, "and Alice can see the future. Jasper can make people feel calm. . . . And Daddy can read minds."

I marveled at the possibilities. And then I froze quite suddenly. Edward can read minds? Oh no . . . what had he seen in mine? If I could, I would have blushed furiously red.

Since the hunt, I was having . . . feelings. I couldn't really explain the new affection I was having towards him . . . well, I could, but I didn't want to. It was the same feeling I had towards someone a long time ago. . . . And that had ended badly enough. No, I could never feel that again.

I looked over at Edward. Did he already know my past, as well as I do? He seemed to be concentrating on Bella--oh, no, his wife! No, I could not allow myself to have these feelings. . . . Like the ones I had forty years ago.

* * *

_New York City, New York. 1969. The place of my humanity._

_But my humanity was gone now. . . . I knew by the pain that I'd been forced to endure for the last three days, that I could never possibly be human. I couldn't possibly be alive._

_I was in an alley, where excactly I didn't know. The same place I'd been for three days, behind a dumpster, keeping still and quiet, through the last three torturous days. Everything was so clear, so vibrant to me, though it was very late, as I could tell by how high the moon was in the dark sky._

_My throat blistered with a kind of thirst that I would soon be only too familiar with, and I prowled the streets with such agility that I'd never known. I'd seen my beauty first-hand in the reflection of windows, and I didn't recognize myself. I wasn't me._

_I'd later realize how lucky I was that it was late, in one f the least crowded parts of the city. Once I got over my grief of my most devastating victim, I would realize how lucky it was that I hadn't gone on a massacre in daylight._

_I was roaming the streets..... Not aimlessly, as you might think, but searching. tasting the scent of sustainance in the air. I broke into the closest apartment, and I killed an entire family. The taste of blood was all around me, but it was never enough. It only took minutes for my mind, so fogged by thirst, to want for somehting else._

_Milo. Where was he? The one whose closeness I craved beyond all else. My Milo._

_I found him, tired, looking, searching for me as I had searched for him, and my breath caught in my throat. I didn't sniff the air, frozen with happiness._

_I approached him, cautiously. He was still with fear at my red eyes, instinctively afraid. When I realized that he couldn't recognize me, Blaire, his Blaire, his fiancee.... My grief over took me. And I breathed, an action that I would regret forever._

_Because the monster that I was didn't care about Milo. Didn't care about love. I was a vampire now, and, all reasoning and love behind me, I lunged and bit him, tasting him. But my new self could still grieve, and, in astonishment of what I'd done, I couldn't even bring myself to drink his blood. I left him to die, bleeding, in an alleyway._

_I'd killed the only thing that mattered. The death of my happiness and of my former self was soon to follow._

* * *

So here I was, alone on the piano bench. Renesmee had scurried away during my reverie, impatiently consulting Bella about someone being late, and about missing someone. I wasn't really paying attention, but I heard Bella reply, "He'll be here soon," in her lovely motherly coo.

I watched Bella. Love was so irrational, I mused. Seeing the wife of my one-sided love made em cringe, yes, but I couldn't escape the truth, that it wasn't Bella thjat would stop me from loving Edward, as much as I wished it was.

I never wanted to feel that grief again. Not what i'd felt after I'd killed Milo.

I turned to Edward, whose eyes were already on mine, and somehow, I knew that he had listened to my reminiscing. He knew my sad story. His eyes bored into mine, with a complicated kind of pity, as I knew he was listening to my thoughts. I could tell by his face that he knew about my affection for him.

I stared back at him, ,almost defiant, as there was no escaping my twisted affection for him. How irrational love is.


	6. Awkward ChitChat

**A/N: I noticed that I haven't been putting disclaimers on my chapters or author notes--maybe you've noticed too? Well, if I'm going to be totally honest with myself, I think being stuck putting up disclaimers is just ridiculous. C'mon! It's FANFICTION-DOT-NET! Doesn't it go without saying that I don't own Twilight? Anyway. . . .**

**Haha, I get a little carried away with Renesmee's song, but I don't know. . . . great song. I thought it fit well, too, to get things rolling in this chapter. The way it emotionally moves me seemed to work well for this. And I really do like that song, haha. But, as I don't think you guys would really care that much anyway (I mean, let's get on to the romance!), I don't think I'll reveal what song it is. . . . it's just going to have to be a mystery, I guess. Oh yes, and by the by, this is to you guys, HJ and MP!**

Renesmee was back at the piano, a good ten minutes after my little staring match with Edward, and after she'd bragged to her father about how she'd mastered Fur Elise already. And now here she was, moving onto a number that I'd never heard before.

The song had a calming, subdued kind of casualness, but somehow the notes, sounding so simple and easy played by Renesmee, affected me some. It sounded familiar almost, though I was sure I'd never heard it before, as i didn't listen to much music as I roamed the wilderness. Just something about its simplistic melody felt so real to me, had me reflecting to myself in such a contemplative manner. So casual . . . and yet, it almost brought a tear to my eyes, had I any.

My past seemed very little right now, and I concentrated solely on the time at hand, the music the perfect soundtrack to my thoughts.

So Edward knew now. . . . I wasn't sure how I felt about that. Honestly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Kind of relieving, almost, to have a secret off of my chest. I was sure it would only take a few minutes of real, pure, undistracted thought for my embarrassment and disappointment in myself to set in. Honestly, this kind of scandelous love was not the kind of thing I wanted as I lived with this peaceful family.

Edward wouldn't meet my eyes, though my eyes never left him. He was looking resolutely at his wife, as she spoke light-heartedly to him, possibly trying to give me a hint. I didn't need the hint, though. I felt perfectly awful about falling for a married man.

Suddenly, Bella was beside me, her motherly grin in Renesmee's direction.

"Okay, Renesmee, we can go now." Renesmee stopped playing mid-chord, leaving the tranquil song hanging on that note, and jumped up from the piano bench. I felt some calm leave me.

"Okay," she said, excitement painting her tone. Then she glanced at me and back at her mother again. "Can Blaire come, too?"

I was startled slightly at hearing my name, and, oddly enough, I saw Edward smirk slightly out of the corner of my eye. Bella had a somewhat pained look about her.

"Er, well. . . ." she started, seeming a little uncomfortable. "I'm not sure that that would be a very good idea. . . . And I doubt Blaire would want to go with us."

"No, that's fine," I interrupted, but Bella still looked pained. She threw a glance at Carlisle, who looked reassuring. Edward, too, aproached us.

"Let's not force Blaire to come with us," Edward crooned to Renesmee softly. Then he said to Bella, "I think I'll join you, though. I haven't spoken to Jacob in a while." Renesmee looked a little disappointed.

I thought, watching Renesmee. I'd been living in this house for a few days. It would be a relief to get out for a bit.

"I'd like to come with you," I said, somewhat shyly. Renesmee smiled at me.

Bella, however, looked imploringly at Edward, who, in a sigh that sounded (to me, at least) resigned, said, "Of course. Well, maybe it would be a good idea to have Jacob come _here_."

Bella nodded in agreement, and took out a small, silver cellphone from her pocket, and dialed. Even from where I was standing I couldn't hear the phone's ringing or tone, and I assumed that the volume was turned way down for the acute ears of these vampires.

Edward approached me, and started talking to me for the first time in a while, awkwardness making itself known in his voice. He still wouldn't meet my eyes. "I think I should probably brief you on our visitor. Jacob isn't, strictly speaking, a vampire. Actually, he's not a vampire in any manner of speaking."

I was mildly surprised. A human? Here? It seemed like a pretty bad idea to invite a human to a vampires' nest--especially one containing a vampire like myself, whose hunger has yet to abate.

As if reading my mind (come to think of it, he probably _was_ reading my mind), Edward assured me, "He isn't a human either. He's . . . well, he's a shape-shifter."

"And he shifts into what shape?" I asked in a measured tone. Edward seemed a little reluctant to answer, and it piqued my curiosity.

"A . . . wolf," he admitted, eyes down.

I couldn't help but curl my lips back over my teeth. A _werewolf_?! That was worse than bringing a human! The sworn enemy of a vampire. . . . Why on earth would they invite a vampire-killer into their home?

Edward, answering the outrage in my head, said "He's a good friend of Renesmee's. A _very_ good friend of hers. He's like family, and he's always welcome here." He said it like a warning. Perhaps warning me to be on my guard of the filthy dog that would be making frequent visits. I simply nodded in defeat.

And then there was silence. Very awkward silence. Well, there was no point pretending that I didn't have feelings for him, and if I was going to be living here, with this family, we'd need to talk it out eventually. I opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off in a hushed whisper that I would never of heard had I been human.

"Whatever you do, don't tell Bella about your . . . feelings," he said in a peculiarly pleading whisper.

"What?" I whispered back, bewildered. "Why not?" I looked over his shoulder at the named vampire, who, having finished her call to the mysterious Jacob, was chatting merrily with Alice.

"Because," he continued hurriedly, glancing at her as well, "beautiful, couragous, warm as she is, Bella has an inferiority complex of sorts. Knowing that she has _competition,_" -- he sneered the word, sounding harsh in his velvet tone, his voice needlessly implying that I was no competition compared to her --, "would make her very upset. And as she's been in a rather blissful mood as of late, I'd prefer that she remained that way."

He spoke in such a cold manner that I felt suddenly very small. "Yes. . . . Of course I won't tell her."

And again, there was silence. Maybe he knew that my feelings had been somewhat wounded by his cold manner, or he simply wanted to change the subject, but he began speaking again, this time in a much gentler tone.

"Renesmee told you, I'm sure, that I can . . . hear what goes on in people's minds, I'm sure," he said gently. I nodded, looking down. "Well, I . . . heard what happened. You know, before, all of those years ago."

I nodded again, but this time, I could feel my insides freeze.

He continued, this time even more kindly, as if speaking to a mourning widow, "I'm sorry, about what happened. And. . . ."

It was so odd, to hear someone so perfectly put together struggle with the right words.

"And, I'm sorry I was listening. I can't really help it. And I shouldn't be so cold to you. I can't return your feelings,"--even now, the rejection stung--"but I still would like to be on friendly terms with you. But I just want to be clear with you: I'll never be able to fill the void _he_ left behind. Trust me."

There was nothing I could say to that. I simply nodded, mouth frozen, still not looking at him as he turned and joined his wife. In the background, Renesmee's humble song again began to play.


End file.
